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THE GUARDIAN |
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COMMENT |
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THE GUARDIAN |
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COMMENT |
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New Labour's
love of money is the root of all our troubles In the recent epidemic of New Labour depression confessors there was little insight into the cause of their troubles. Apparently Alastair Campbell's negative patches just come and go, without rhyme or reason. David Blunkett's "clinical depression" is put down to pressures that, apparently, would have broken anyone less heroically stoical than he paints himself. Stephen Fry took up two hours of prime BBC2 time to persuade us that he fits the manic-depressive diagnosis but that he hasn't a clue why. None the less, the implicit message of their ruminations was that genes cause depression and that only drugs or cognitive behavioural therapy can treat it - except in their cases, as they are too special or brave to use such mere palliatives. Leaving aside the facts that genes play little or no part in causing much depression and that early parental care, economic inequality and low income are proven to be critical, none of these Blatcherites had any awareness of another major cause: the affluenza virus. I define it as the placing of a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame. In samples from 14 different nations, people who have the virus are significantly more likely to suffer from depression. They also have higher rates of anxiety, substance abuse (how does Campbell relate his ex-alcoholism to his depression?) and narcissistic personality disorder (which may be Fry's true diagnosis). Because the drug companies and their pharmacists in the psychiatric establishment control the perception of mental illness, hardly anyone is aware of this substantial body of scientific studies. But Blatcher's depressed inner circle should pay close attention to it, for the virus is rife among them. I recently spent several hours chatting to a very powerful New Labour woman who has played a major role in British politics since 1997. Despite this, she was not happy with her lot. Because of an attack of hubris in former years, she had never become an MP and therefore could not fulfil her longing to be prime minister. I said she should not let this spoil the satisfaction she must have gained from her influential position, to no avail. But then perhaps all politicians are plagued by what might have been. What really shocked me was a still greater cause of distress to her: lack of money. Although her husband earns substantial sums and she gets six figures, there is never enough, what with the mortgages for the house in a fashionable part of London and the one in the country, cars for the children, holidays and so forth. Perhaps this should come as no surprise, for Peter Mandelson told me (and anyone else who would listen) before the 1997 election that "we are seriously relaxed about people becoming very, very rich". The longing to join this club or rub shoulders with it has been a hugely damaging feature of Blatcher's reign. Mandelson's excessive property aspirations led to his first resignation as a minister. The Blairs resent having sold their Islington house before the property boom. In buying two flats for £270,000 in Bristol and a £3.4m home in London they show distinctly materialistic leanings. Tony will make shedloads of money from his American admirers on leaving office. In the Tessa Jowell-David Mills affair, we were asked to believe that a £350,000 payment to her husband had never arisen in their discussions. Almost wherever you look in the Blatcher kitchen cabinet, pound notes spill out. Blunkett took his totty to the Duchess of Devonshire's cottage, and his second resignation was due to an undeclared investment. Campbell is set to make a bomb from his memoirs. Prescott sported a stetson at the casino mogul's ranch. Of the key players, only Brown and Straw seem to have avoided being caught with their trotters in the trough. Even Blatcher's media poodles admit it. Asking a close adviser why they are so infatuated with wealth, Andrew Rawnsley was told: "They spend too much time with very rich people." Rawnsley concluded that "ministers argue themselves into believing that they deserve a similar level of lifestyle to the mega-rich". It's been Nouveau Riche Labour. The greatest crime of the Blatcherites has been the spreading of the affluenza virus among the rest of us. They seem to despise mothers who care for their small children - or anyone else whose work is not paid. They use education to create good little consumer-producers, not to set minds free. They lock students into debts, then impose an insecure, workaholic working environment and a bloated property market that keeps the young on a hedonic, consumerist treadmill. Above all, their talk of "opportunity", "choice" and "freedom" is just Americanised material aspirationalism. A government survey of British mental health shows that 23% of us had a mental illness in the past 12 months and about one quarter more are on the verge thereof. This is twice the prevalence of other European nations, which are less Americanised and less virus-infected. By perpetuating Thatcherite selfish capitalism, Blatcherism has spread the affluenza virus. Small wonder that some of its key proponents are suffering from mental illnesses. For Brown to have a chance of winning the next election he will need to offer an unselfish capitalist manifesto based on the Danish model. If it's going to be just Bratcherism, he might as well not bother. · Oliver James's book Affluenza will be published in January
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 |
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